ABSTRACT
The emergence of nationalism in Europe is inextricably linked to revolutionary upheavals, inter-state wars, and organised violence. Some of the modern processes that helped spread the idea of nationalism include the emergence of ‘mass armies’, the formation of the territorial state, the extension of citizenship rights, and the uneven development of industrial capitalism (Giddens 1985; Mann 1986). However, it was the experience of modern warfare that turned the masses into increasingly literate soldiers who willingly sacrificed for their nations. Since the Napoleonic wars large citizen armies began replacing mercenary troops and warfare affected people from all social backgrounds. The nationalisation of the masses and the perception of the nation as a community of sacrifice intensified as the century progressed and culminated in the total wars of the twentieth century (Mosse 1975, 1990). Whereas the consequences of state mobilisation have been examined by a variety of scholars, the relationship between nationalism and violent outbursts by non-state actors still remains a complex and elusive one. Identifying the conditions or precipitants of violence in different historical and societal contexts is sometimes possible but creating a scientific, universal theory is unfeasible. Social reality is intricate and there is no single theory that can predict the unfolding of nationalist violence in a rich variety of historical sequences.
